Kasabian

If you believe the British music press, Kasabian is the most incendiary band to emerge from the UK since the Stone Roses. It's not hard to understand the critics' enthusiasm: The band is named after Manson-family-member-turned-state's-witness Linda Kasabian; vocalist Tom Meighan is a font of quotable quips; and the band's genre-bending debut is an ambitious stew of Madchester, Britpop and electronica leavened with equal parts Beatles and Neu! All excellent ingredients for potentially transcendent rock and roll. But Kasabian makes no lasting impact, largely because there isn't a single song here as remotely memorable as anything on, say, Screamadelica or the Stone Roses' debut. Kasabian clearly wants to shake pop music out of its doldrums, but attitude and a cool record collection alone aren't enough to trigger revolution. Once the Kasabian boys realize that songs made their heroes legendary, perhaps they'll produce something legendary themselves. --Michael Ansaldo